Last night around 8 PM, Stephen and I were just slipping into the pool to cool off from our walk over the park to investigate the off key music that was being blared over a crackly loud speaker. We found ourselves laughing at what was around us. The music in park had been an open-air revival on the back of a semi-truck. As we settled into the pool we could hear a woman sharing her testimony while there were competing sounds from the Catholic church; their statements came in the form of fireworks and a ragtag band. These two competing sounds did not drowned out the roof cat that seemed to be coughing up a hairball on the roof above us.
In previous blogs, I have mentioned the sensory overload in Nicaragua. This was a day without exception. After church we headed out to Pantanal, which is our usual Sunday routine. We have been involved in a Bible study for the past five weeks that resulted from relationships built through the Solarbag project. While Pantanal is only about 3 miles away, it is quite a process to get there, and a different world from Granada and a very different world from the US.
For us to get to Pantanal, we have to convince a cab driver that he wants to drive us out there, we squeeze five or six of us (including the driver) into an abused Toyota Corolla-type vehicle, and we wind through streets that are in a permanent state of repair (They really are trying to make improvements!).
In Pantanal it is not an exaggeration to say that dirt and garbage are everywhere. This time of the year it is dust and in a few weeks it will be mud- streets, floors, etc. The people work hard to keep their own personal space clean, but the wind, which is a refreshment in many ways, is also guilty of covering everything and everyone with a layer of dirt.
We meet at the home of a woman and her husband who have five daughters. Two of the daughters, their husbands and kids live on the same property as their parents. The parents have a sparse, but permanent home of cement and cinderblock; one of the girls’ homes is a lean-to of tin and rough wood. We sit in the yard in plastic chairs under the mango and starfruit trees, moving as needed to stay out of the intense heat of the sun. They are gracious to give us the best chairs, make sure we are out of the sun, and that we have something to drink.
Yesterday while we working on the Bible study with some of the family, the rest of the family was rebuilding the daughter’s home so that they will be ready for the rain that is coming. The pack of kids, eight girls and 1 boy, were running around. It was all chaotic and distracting, but in the midst of this all, people wanted to learn about Jesus.
Pantanal looks nothing like a church. Matter of fact it reminds me more of the quote by C.T. Studd: “Some people want to live within the sound of mission bells, but I want to run a mission, a yard from the gates of Hell” (crime, adultery, theft, incest, poverty). Quite honestly, I don’t really want to do that. In my heart I want to, but in my body and head I don’t want to. I question if I have it in me to give as this place asks me to give. But, I persevere in the promise that God is Able (and find some comfort too that I will be in the US for the week!)!
My Experiences In Nicaragua